In order to improve absorbency, bulk and softness of absorbent paper products such as wipes, paper napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, kitchen paper, paper handkerchiefs, or the like, it is common to laminate two or more plies of tissue paper. The resulting absorbent paper article is softer, more flexible and has greater absorbent capacity and bulk than a corresponding single-ply article having the same thickness and basis weight.
A simple and common way of joining the plies of paper towels and wipes is by means of mechanical embossing along two parallel edges on the towel or wipe. The resulting article is soft and flexible, but the plies of the article tend to separate or delaminate in the area between the bonding lines. This impairs the absorbency as well as the handling and wiping properties of the article. Edge embossing is disclosed, for instance, in EP 0 864 014.
Another way of achieving a laminated paper article is by bonding in a closely spaced pattern of bonding elements distributed over the whole surface of the article. Such bonding patterns are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,106,928, 6,136,413, 4,325,768, 4,978,565 and 6,361,784. Although these bonding patterns provide strong attachment between the bonded plies, the resulting paper articles are unduly stiff and therefore difficult to fold and bring to conform to a wiped surface.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved absorbent paper article, particularly for object wiping purposes.
The object of the present invention is to provide an absorbent paper article and an absorbent paper web comprising at least two laminated plies of paper such as tissue paper and having high softness, flexibility, absorbency and resistance to delamination.